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DOI

Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs

01 Dec 2011-Iss: 32, pp 5-8
About: The article was published on 2011-12-01 and is currently open access. It has received 1252 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Working class.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored some key aspects of players' masculinities, identities, and identities, using data generated by 303 young male footballers employed in 21 professional clubs in England and Wales.
Abstract: Drawing upon data generated by 303 young male footballers employed in 21 professional clubs in England and Wales, this article explores some key aspects of players’ masculinities, identities and en...

12 citations


Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."

  • ...…anxiety, expressions of laddishness (e.g. via toughness, physicality, having a laugh, opposing authority, promiscuity) (Francis 2006; Stahl 2015; Willis 1977) and hyper-masculinity can exacerbate ‘anti-educational stances and often creates a particular barrier to the creation of legitimate…...

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  • ...In contrast, and for reasons we shall explain later, players who were more able to ‘have a laugh’ with their education tutors and to enact their preferred masculine identities (revolving especially around the regular and systematic use of ‘banter’) in more relaxed, informal and social settings than those encountered in more formal learning spaces (Stahl and Dale 2013; Willis 1977) were more likely to comment positively upon their present-day experiences of education....

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  • ...As an aspect of the laddish cultures commonly found in professional football, banter in educational settings was valued by players but it nevertheless impacted upon the range and kinds of masculine identity enactments permitted in those contexts (Smith 2007; Stahl and Dale 2013; Willis 1977)....

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  • ...…20) As an aspect of the laddish cultures commonly found in professional football, banter in educational settings was valued by players but it nevertheless impacted upon the range and kinds of masculine identity enactments permitted in those contexts (Smith 2007; Stahl and Dale 2013; Willis 1977)....

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  • ...Although multiple masculinities exist, and each are dynamic and constructed contextually and relationally (Stahl 2015), it is the dominant expression of so-called laddish cultures or behaviours which have been regularly shown to impact upon working-class males’ enactment of masculine identities in education (Smith 2007; Stahl and Dale 2013; Willis 1977)....

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Dissertation
01 Mar 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the issue of career choice and decision-making through the eyes of young people in Antigua and in England and found that young people do not make their choices based upon whether the career is a vocational or academic career.
Abstract: The thesis looks at the issue of career choice and decision-making through the eyes of young people in Antigua and in England. It provides an account of their views and attitudes in relation to various jobs and careers and the factors which have influenced these views. It asks young people about the way in which they are making their career choices and the sort of factors which influence them into making these choices. The study begins by first providing a brief overview of education and training in both countries and the way in which education is presented in both countries as being essential for economic growth. At the centre of this study is the realisation that after many years of vocational initiatives young people still appear to be reluctant to enter vocational courses and or careers. Nonetheless, from a socio/economic viewpoint, various governments over the last quarter of a century, at least, have placed much emphasis on the relationship between education and the country’s economic performance. The three specific aims of the study are: • To explore young peoples’ employment aspirations in Antigua and the UK • To investigate young people’s attitudes towards jobs and careers • To evaluate the various influences on their career choices. Since vocational education prepares individuals for gainful employment, the participants were therefore questioned about their career aspirations; particularly in terms of whether they are considering academic or vocational type courses or careers. In order to ascertain if the participants had made informed choices/decisions regarding subjects and career choices it was necessary to look at the types of information with which they are provided as well as the sources of the information. The research also questions whether the information provided is adequate and without bias. Conducted within two schools and two colleges in the North of England and two schools and a college in the Caribbean island of Antigua, the study employs the use of both Questionnaires and interviews so as to obtain a rich texture of data. However, as it seeks to give a voice to the young people themselves, it leans more towards the qualitative side of the interview data. The study reveals that the term vocational is not widely understood and attributes this to the narrow approach of careers education and guidance being provided to young people. Thus, it raises questions of how well young people are being prepared for the world of work. It however has found that young people do not make their choices based upon whether the career is a vocational or academic career. They are more concerned about the money and status which a career or job earns them and they are more likely to take advice from parents, siblings and even friends than from careers advisers.

12 citations


Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."

  • ...Learning to Labour (Willis 1977) has thus been described by Griffin (2005) as being about: …a group of 12 white working-class young men who rejected the possibilities of academic advancement offered by education, mobilising a counter-school culture based around the importance of ‘having a laff’, pride in working class, masculine, practical abilities, and a celebration of an assertive masculinity… (p.292) These ‘lads’ were more interested in ‘mucking around’ than in school work; they saw manual work as being ‘real jobs for men’ and therefore gaining qualifications was not important to them....

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  • ...This began with the Thatcher Government’s Technical Vocational Education Initiatives (TVEI) and continues to the present day with the newly announced Specialist Diploma of the Labour Government....

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  • ...Using data from the Labour Force Survey, the Labour Market Review 2006 points out that the early 1970s were characterised by relatively low unemployment, amounting to approximately 1 million jobless persons in the UK (about 4 percent of workers aged 16 or over) (National Statistics, 2006)....

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  • ...However, while noting that unemployment rates vary among different sub-groups of the population in terms of gender, age, disability status, ethnic origin, qualification levels and previous occupation, the Labour Market Review 2006 points out that ‘unemployment rates for young people have been consistently higher than for those in older age groups....

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  • ...However, of particular interest to this study, the Labour Market Review also points out that young people account for an increasing proportion of the unemployed total, and that people with no qualifications are more likely to be unemployed than those with qualifications, particularly if the qualifications are at higher levels of educational attainment....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a post-disciplinary article goes beyond orthodox labour economics and combines insights from the "socio-economics of labour markets" (SELM), and critical realism (CR), to develop a SELMCR perspective, which is then used to create an alternative conception of labour market institutions and an alternative model of labor markets.
Abstract: This post-disciplinary article goes beyond orthodox labour economics and combines insights from the ‘socio-economics of labour markets’ (SELM), and critical realism (CR), to develop a SELMCR perspective, which is then used to create an alternative conception of labour market institutions and an alternative model of labour markets, i.e. the SELMCR model.

12 citations


Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."

  • ...(Willis, 1980, p. 1) To explain how class structures are simultaneously LM structures is to explain how LMs are, for example, horizontally and vertically segregated by class....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored the impact of urban social divisions and changing race relations on the experiences of disadvantaged youth living on the periphery of two Canadian cities: Vancouver and Toronto, and found that urban social division and race relations affect the experience of marginalized youth.
Abstract: This paper explores the impact of urban social divisions and changing race relations on the experiences of disadvantaged youth living on the periphery of two Canadian cities: Vancouver and Toronto....

12 citations


Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."

  • ...Mapping young people’s experience of cultural conflict, belonging and danger in the city There is a vast cumulative literature which identifies how youth subcultures have engaged in territorial disputes over neighborhood space and identity conflicts (e.g. Thorne 1995; Willis 1977)....

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Posted Content
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: This paper explored the unusual learning trajectories of a group of working class adults born in 1958, who participated in higher education (HE) in a context where most people from the same socio-economic backgrounds did not.
Abstract: Young people from working class backgrounds remained mostly excluded from the widening educational participation which characterised postwar Britain. Based on 20 semi-structured interviews which were part of a wider study about ‘Social Participation and Identity’ (2008–2009), this article explores the unusual learning trajectories of a group of working class adults born in 1958, who participated in higher education (HE) in a context where most people from the same socio-economic backgrounds did not. Drawing on Bourdieu’s social theory, the findings suggest that different types of retrospective accounts were mobilised to reconcile working class habitus of origin and the perceived habitus as adults. Most research on working class and higher education focuses on the experiences of youth. By contrast, the use of retrospective accounts of adults has enabled the study to capture the implications that the educational trajectories have later in life. The authors consider these accounts a part of wider narratives that they define ‘therapeutic’. Therapeutic narratives were employed to come to terms with the ambivalence produced by social mobility. Therefore, respondents were negotiating the sense of exclusion attached to class change, and the acknowledgement of the opportunities associated with a working class habitus accessing new social fields viaeducation.

12 citations

References
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Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition as discussed by the authors, but it has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory.
Abstract: The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition. It has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory (Lave, 1988; Bourdieu, 1977; Giddens, 1984; Foucault, 1980; Vygotsky, 1978). But the concept of community of practice is well aligned with the perspective of systems traditions. A community of practice itself can be viewed as a simple social system. And a complex social system can be viewed as constituted by interrelated communities of practice. In this essay I first explore the systemic nature of the concept at these two levels. Then I use this foundation to look at the applications of the concept, some of its main critiques, and its potential for developing a social discipline of learning.

1,082 citations

Book
27 Jun 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the Flatlands of Oakland and the Youth Control Complex are discussed. But the focus is on the role of black youth in the criminal justice system and community institutions.
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgments Part I Hypercriminalization 1 Dreams Deferred: The Patterns of Punishment in Oakland 2 The Flatlands of Oakland and the Youth Control Complex 3 The Labeling Hype: Coming of Age in the Era of Mass Incarceration 4 The Coupling of Criminal Justice and Community Institutions Part II Consequences 5 "Dummy Smart": Misrecognition, Acting Out, and "Going Dumb" 6 Proving Manhood: Masculinity as a Rehabilitative Tool 7 Guilty by Association: Acting White or Acting Lawful? Conclusion: Toward a Youth Support Complex Appendix: Beyond Jungle-Book Tropes Notes References Index About the Author

909 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the transition to adulthood among 1.5-generation undocumented Latino young adults and finds that for them, the transition from K to adulthood involves exiting the legally protected status of K to...
Abstract: This article examines the transition to adulthood among 1.5-generation undocumented Latino young adults. For them, the transition to adulthood involves exiting the legally protected status of K to ...

663 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, student engagement research, policy, and practice must become more nuanced and less formulaic, and the ensuing review is structured accordingly, guided in part by social-ecological analysis and social-cultural theory.
Abstract: Student engagement research, policy, and practice are even more important in today’s race-to-the top policy environment. With a priority goal of postsecondary completion with advanced competence, today’s students must be engaged longer and more deeply. This need is especially salient for students attending schools located in segregated, high-poverty neighborhoods and isolated rural communities. Here, engagement research, policy, and practice must become more nuanced and less formulaic, and the ensuing review is structured accordingly. Guided in part by social-ecological analysis and social-cultural theory, engagement is conceptualized as a dynamic system of social and psychological constructs as well as a synergistic process. This conceptualization invites researchers, policymakers, and school-community leaders to develop improvement models that provide a more expansive, engagement-focused reach into students’ family, peer, and neighborhood ecologies.

528 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (LISA) as discussed by the authors used a mixed-methods approach, combining longitudinal, interdisciplinary, qualitative, and quantitative approaches to document adaptation patterns of 407 recently arrived immigrant youth from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico over the course of five years.
Abstract: Background/Context: Newcomer immigrant students are entering schools in the United States in unprecedented numbers. As they enter new school contexts, they face a number of challenges in their adjustment. Previous literature suggested that relationships in school play a particularly crucial role in promoting socially competent behavior in the classroom and in fostering academic engagement and school performance. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the role of school-based relationships in engagement and achievement in a population of newcomer immigrant students. Research Design: The Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (LISA) used a mixed-methods approach, combining longitudinal, interdisciplinary, qualitative, and quantitative approaches to document adaptation patterns of 407 recently arrived immigrant youth from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico over the course of five years. Based on data from the last year of the study, we examine how the role of relationships mediates newcomers’ challenges with academic engagement and performance. We identify factors that account for patterns of academic engagement and achievement, including country of origin, gender, maternal education, English language proficiency, and school-based relationships. Findings: Multiple regression analyses suggest that supportive school-based relationships strongly contribute to both the academic engagement and the school performance of the par

356 citations